Metal Revolving
Metal Revolving is a personal level creation project on Half-Life 2. Through this exercise, I wanted to try my hand at creating a first-person level that includes fights, scripted sequences, and narration in a short time. The project is to confront the player with a powerful enemy that he will not be able to face until the end of the level. This enemy takes the form of a Combine helicopter that will attack the player several times over the level.
Game: Half Life 2
Engine: Source Engine
Roles: Level Design - Scripting
OBJECTIVES
• Creating a first map taking place in the Half-Life 2 Universe
• Create a build up around a boss
• Short duration and fast pace gameplay
• Quick project (2 weeks)
Playthrough
Manage the pace and work on the staging
For this project, my intention was to create a map that revolves around a powerful enemy that the player can't really confront until the end of the map. This idea can be found in a section of Half Life 2 episode 2 with an helicopter that pursues the player for several minutes before the player can face it by turning is weapons against him. I decided to take this idea by removing the vehicle pursuit, to turn it into a hunt where the player hides in a building set to escape from the helicopter. As I had very little experience with Hammer, I quickly realized the following points:
• The duration of the card must be short to keep the scop achievable
• The tension of the map must be measured so that the player does not feel continuously helpless against the helicopter
Layout of the map.
Chart showing the evolution of tension through the level.
So I decided to stage the helicopter in a way that would gradually introduce its capabilities before integrating it into a more complex combat sequence:
• The intro sequence gradually introduces the helicopter's ability to shoot with its cannon, but doesn't put the player in too much danger.
• Then, the player arrives in a first combat sequence where the helicopter arrives only once all enemies defeated. The helicopter can launch grenades for the first time through this sequence.
• After a long break to separate the two battle sections, the player arrives in an arena where he must face enemies while under fire from the helicopter. The player is taught how to collect grenades with the gravity gun at the end of the fight.
• Finally, the player faces the helicopter at the end of the level fight.
The different stages of presentation for the helicopter.
Puzzle with the electrical cables
Between the two big combat sequences I wanted to integrate a puzzle sequence to lower the pressure and allow the player to recover the gravity gun in a more memorable sequence. The puzzle remains very simple and takes up the mechanics of electrical cables. The player must manipulate cables to power the right elements. To release the gravity gun, he must also resolved a quick and simple puzzle by pressing the right buttons. The G-Gun allows the player to exit the room, having previously rearanged the cables to open the door and continue the level
As the puzzle is not the heart of the map I put less resources than the other sections. It’s really noticeable in the integration of this section where I took less time to guide the player and give more depth to the puzzle. If I had to spend more time on this project, I will probably start by reworking this area. It was nevertheless an opportunity to deepen my technical knowledge on the engine by learning how to manipulate the logic elements of the editor.
The different stage of the puzzle.